Surroundings & Routes - Pieve Santo Stefano

The city of diary

Passed the passage of Viamaggio, Pieve Santo Stefano lies there. It is one of the oldest settlement of the Valtiberina Valley.
It is of Etruscan origin. This country became an important centre for the supplying of the wood during the Roman period and it grew up more and more under the Florentine domination. We do not know very much about the history of Pieve S.Stefano because in the 19th century an inundation destroyed many work of art, papers and civil archives.
The oldest cult place in the country was the "Pieve", from which it took its name. The "Pieve" was built in the XII century and was remarkably enlarged with the buildings of the "Collegiata" of Santo Stefano. All the complex reorganized during the 19th century. Today it is in an excellent condition of conservation.
An Assumption of Andrea Della Robbia is conserved here.
Also the Shrine of the "Madonna dei Lumi" is worth looking and, in the suburbs of the village, there is a very ancient little heathen temple with octagonal plan. Next to the Municipium you will be able to admire the "Loggette del Grano" which were built in the 18th century.
And in the neighbourhood of the village the Convent of "St.Maria" in Cerbaiolo and the church of "St.Lorenzo" in Baldignano (the cript of which goes back to the 11th century) are worthy to be visited. Finally, we suggest you to go and see the fortified village of Mignano, which is a wonderful example of castel-houses built all around the popular church.
In the Town Hall a particular museum has been prepared where autobiographical testaments from all Italy are gathered.
A public archive which gathers documents of common people and in which the life of everybody and the history of Italy are reflected: there are diaries, epistolaries and autobiographical memories.
The little village of this Pieve of Tuscan and emilian Appennine had seen its built-up area almost completely destroyed. One of the few buildings remained is the Town Hall with the "L" form like an opened book on the reading-desk together with the armorial bearings of ancient clans.
The archive, planned and founded by Saverio Tutino, it attends to preserve(as a museum) works of popular writings and to increase the wealth that there is conserved in many ways.

The contents of this page is referred to the web site Archivio Diaristico Nazionale